Maryland Home Sales Fall in June

August 13, 2012 (Chris Moore)

Monthly sales of existing single-family homes and condominiums fell in Maryland during June as a shrinking housing inventory left buyers with fewer choices according to the latest housing data from the Maryland Association of Realtors® (MAR).

An estimated total of 5,122 existing single-family homes and condos were sold in the Old Line State in June. That was 3.9 percent lower than the 5,328 homes sold in May but was still 3.5 percent higher than the 4,949 homes sold in June 2011.

The median sales price for an existing home in Maryland increased by 1.0 percent in June to $261,772, up from $259,207 in May and was 7.8 percent higher than the median price of $242,796 in June of last year.

Of the 24 counties and cities that provide data for the monthly report, thirteen reported gains in home sales or were unchanged over the previous year with Talbot County (+68.2 percent) reporting the largest increase of counties with over 20 sales while Garrett County (-20.0 percent) posted the largest monthly decline in sales.

Montgomery County recorded the most sales for the month with an estimated 972 home sales, down from 1,073 the previous month, while Prince George’s County followed with an estimated 712 home sales for the month, down slightly from 719 in May.

Year-over-year, eighteen counties or cities posted an increase in their median prices or were unchanged from the previous month with the largest increase posted by Caroline County (+50.0 percent) with Garrett County (-21.2 percent) posting the largest decline in prices of counties or cities that had a minimum of 20 sales.

Tight inventory continued to be a problem for the state as the total number of homes for sale fell again in June with 27,309 homes actively available. That’s down from 28,557 in May and down from 37,555 in June of 2011.

Despite the drop in home sales, the continuing low inventory left the state with an average 5.3 months supply of homes available for purchase, down from a 5.4 months supply in May and also down from a 7.6 months supply a year earlier.